"One only; but it will be enough, provided this gentleman is so kind as to help me in my enquiries."
"Enquiries? With what object?" asked the young man.
"With the object of proving that your story is not quite accurate."
Jean Louis took umbrage at this:
"I must ask you to believe, monsieur, that I have not said a word which is not the exact truth."
"I expressed myself badly," said Rénine, with great kindliness. "Certainly you have not said a word that does not agree with what you believe to be the exact truth. But the truth is not, cannot be what you believe it to be."
The young man folded his arms:
"In any case, monsieur, it seems likely that I should know the truth better than you do."
"Why better? What happened on that tragic night can obviously be known to you only at secondhand. You have no proofs. Neither have Madame d'Imbleval and Madame Vaurois."
"No proofs of what?" exclaimed Jean Louis, losing patience.